Trader’s Narrative

This week, Barron’s did a cover story on companies that build and operate public highways.

Although toll roads are relatively few and far in between to North America, they are a normal feature of the landscape in Europe and Australia. That would explain why all the companies discussed in Barron’s article are from outside North America:

• Autostrade (Italian publicly listed)
• Abertis (Spanish publicly listed - about to merge with Autostrade)
• Macquarie Infrastructure (Australian publicly listed)
• Cintra (Spanish publicly listed - works closely with Macquarie)
• Transurban (Australian publicly listed)

The charts for the Australian companies are a mess so I won’t even bother with them. Here are the European ones:

Autostrade seems to have been able to clear the congestion for all of last year. The question is whether it can hold these new levels. If it can pull back and stay above 22 Euros, then there’s a good chance the break out was real. Remember that Autostrade and Abertis have tied the knot (pdf press release).

Abertis peaked last year and has pulled back to form a bull flag. But if you squint hard the chart almost looks like a head and shoulders… so I’d really be careful of this one.

Cintra is in a bit of congestion and it seems to be coiling. I’d watch that red support line. A decisive close below that would mean its not going anywhere in the vicinity of north.

abertis, autostrade, Barrons, cintra, macquarie infrastructure, toll roads, transurban